Top-three finish for Oliphant in finale

Tom Oliphant

Published:14:52Friday 06 October 2017

Tom Oliphant ended his 2017 Porsche Carrera Cup GB campaign in style, confirming his fourth position in the final championship standings with a sensational drive from eighth on the grid through to a podium finish at Brands Hatch.

Qualifying did not go his way on Saturday as a combination of traffic, yellow flags and driver errors left him eighth and sixth on the grid for Sunday’s two races.

The 27-year-old was determined to make amends in the races and he made an immediate impact in the opening encounter, gaining four places on the first lap as he excelled in tricky wet conditions.

The Leamington-based racer briefly slipped back to fifth position but following a short safety car period his charge would continue as he regained the place with a fantastic dive down the inside into Stirlings before immediately setting his sights on the podium contenders ahead.

Oliphant closed down a gap of over two seconds to the driver ahead before grabbing third place with a slick move into Druids three laps from the end to complete a remarkable drive through the field.

Oliphant would go on to enjoy a starring role on ITV4 later that afternoon as he played his part in a dramatic championship finale, battling wheel-to-wheel with eventual champion Charlie Eastwood before eventually having to settle for sixth position at the chequered flag, a result that completed a remarkably consistent run of 14 top-six results in 15 races this year.

He said: “The weekend has been really good overall. Qualifying wasn’t great, but practice went well and I’m pleased with my performance across the two races, especially getting the podium from eighth on the grid in the opener.”